Ok, lets "stir the pot" a little.

[TerryC]

Ok, let's "stir the pot" a little.

As most here know, I am a proponent of "wet" gold prospecting as apposed to "dry" (i.e. drywashing). Here is an excerpt from page 82 of BLM bulletin #4 Placer Examination - Priciples and Practice. John H. Wells: (bold type is mine) This shows the gold to be eleven times heavier than gravel when immersed in water, as compared to 7:1 in air. Simply stated - the relative weight of gold is about 1 1/2 times greater when passing through a wet process than when passing through a drywasher.... it no doubt contibutes to the dry washer's often poor recovery of fine or flaky gold. Drywashing is a viable method in arid regions but give me water if I can take it to the site. (Let's argue... snicker) TTC

 

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[releventchair]

Weight of a fish at surface of water increases? Boat anchor greatest weight is when above water. (My opinion.) If all weighty objects react the same(shape and other factors will affect) water should make classifying more efficient by allowing more "float time". Does it show i don,t prospect?.

 

[TerryC]

Weight of a fish at surface of water increases? Boat anchor greatest weight is when above water. (My opinion.) If all weighty objects react the same(shape and other factors will affect) water should make classifying more efficient by allowing more "float time". Does it show i don,t prospect?.

Hey chair! If I remember correctly you (and my other friend-Tokameel) are both chair-bound. My hat comes off to you and others that are challenged just to get around. Take care, my friend. Terry

 

[Bum Luck]

Water also enables more free mixing, gold and sand separate easier, ergo better efficiency.

 

[releventchair]

Hey chair! If I remember correctly you (and my other friend-Tokameel) are both chair-bound. My hat comes off to you and others that are challenged just to get around. Take care, my friend. Terry

I detect from a chair. Can use crutches on one leg with worn out knee. Means i,m fortunate to be able to get off seat on occasion. much easier to off road in chair too. Some flour has been reported around,one friend who passed was a fan. He preferred west for his quest of a nugget big as his head. Another who moved returned to a place i took him to detect for a black sand sample. no color.

 

[dieselram94]

I agree Terry, wet is the best way to go. I just wished I lived in a gold producing area still.

 

[LP13]

One thing that a lot of people prospecting overlook when thinking about the density of gold (19.3 grams/cubic cm) is that gold is rarely 24k gold. It is generally alloyed with silver, and silver has a density of 10.5 grams / cubic cm.\

I live in an area where we are fortunate to have a lot of very pure gold (in the 20-24k range for the most part). But not all places are so fortunate to get this high of carat weight gold. So for those getting less pure gold, most likely alloyed with silver, the density is < 19.3 grams / cubic cm.
Here is a sampling:

24K Gold 19.3gm/cm
18K Gold 15.6gm/cm
14K Gold 13.1gm/cm

and it also changes by what it alloys with for example for 10K gold, the following density applies:

10K Green Gold 11.03
10K Yellow Gold 11.57
10K White Gold 11.07
10K Red Gold 11.59

I couldn't find the density of royal purple gold which would be much lighter due to the fact it is alloyed with aluminum, or blue gold with iron in it.

So just like people, not all gold is created equal. At least not in nature. So where one may get really good recoveries of gold using dry washing because they have very good high karat gold, another using the same equipment where the gold is not as pure, may not have as good of results with the same equipment with similar dirt even.

I'm testing my equipment for use as a drywasher. Works good so far but have to quantify 'how good' yet in some meaningful way. Maybe that will narrow the gap between wet and dry washing for gold.

 

[kazcoro]

I don't think you are going to find any sane person arguing with you that wet is better than dry. But, the reality is that 25 5 gallon buckets run at 75% efficiency is better than 10 5 gallon buckets run at 98% efficiency. Or less, if you have to haul all that material back to the house to run it. And, drywashing is a helluva lot faster. I started out with a wet sluice, and had a drywasher slap me in the face with the reality of the situation. Before, I was hauling 5 gallon buckets back to the house(after screening, which takes a lot of time), then washing and returning the material next trip. Now, I bring 2 5's with me to pan in, and usually only use 2 gals or so. And, only bring black sand, gold, and save my concentrates for later. That is a world of savings on my back. Am I missing nuggets? Prob not. Some of the fine gold? For sure, but really how much? Not much.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

As most here know, I am a proponent of "wet" gold prospecting as apposed to "dry" (i.e. drywashing). Here is an excerpt from page 82 of BLM bulletin #4 Placer Examination - Priciples and Practice. John H. Wells: (bold type is mine) This shows the gold to be eleven times heavier than gravel when immersed in water, as compared to 7:1 in air. Simply stated - the relative weight of gold is about 1 1/2 times greater when passing through a wet process than when passing through a drywasher.... it no doubt contibutes to the dry washer's often poor recovery of fine or flaky gold. Drywashing is a viable method in arid regions but give me water if I can take it to the site. (Let's argue... snicker) TTC

The reason for that is simple. An object with a specific gravity of 2.5 (like most gravel) loses 40% of its weight when immersed in water. An object (like gold) has a specific gravity around 19, so loses only about 5% of its weight when immersed. in air, the weight ratio is 7.6:1. In water, the ratio is about 12:1. So water is better, by far. The only exception is metal detector prospecting...I'll take dry over wet myself...LOL
Jim

 

[TerryC]

The reason for that is simple. An object with a specific gravity of 2.5 (like most gravel) loses 40% of its weight when immersed in water. An object (like gold) has a specific gravity around 19, so loses only about 5% of its weight when immersed. in air, the weight ratio is 7.6:1. In water, the ratio is about 12:1. So water is better, by far. The only exception is metal detector prospecting...I'll take dry over wet myself...LOL
Jim

Come on guys, not enough arguement here! Jim. Kaz, Lp, and others make a good point. My only point was I like water, when available. There is a definite place for drywashers. ANY method by a pro is a wonder to behold! Working a drywasher takes much more finesse than a wet method. A sluice/highbanker makes me look like a pro! Tnx, all. TTC

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I don't think you are going to find any sane person arguing with you that wet is better than dry. But, the reality is that 25 5 gallon buckets run at 75% efficiency is better than 10 5 gallon buckets run at 98% efficiency. Or less, if you have to haul all that material back to the house to run it. And, drywashing is a helluva lot faster. I started out with a wet sluice, and had a drywasher slap me in the face with the reality of the situation. Before, I was hauling 5 gallon buckets back to the house(after screening, which takes a lot of time), then washing and returning the material next trip. Now, I bring 2 5's with me to pan in, and usually only use 2 gals or so. And, only bring black sand, gold, and save my concentrates for later. That is a world of savings on my back. Am I missing nuggets? Prob not. Some of the fine gold? For sure, but really how much? Not much.

There are so many variables...it's tough to make any "absolute" statements. A dry washer is great! But they like chunkier gold. Most of the places we hunt have pretty fine gold, and the Dw doesn't do well there. It's just a matter of matching your tools with the job you're doing....not rocket science. I can't use a DW here...it's too wet. I bought a Keene DW like 35 years ago...used it twice, and it has been sitting in my shop ever since. I figure someday, when the snow is deep, I'll haul it to Arizona to see how it works....LOL
Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Come on guys, not enough arguement here! Jim. Kaz, Lp, and others make a good point. My only point was I like water, when available. There is a definite place for drywashers. ANY method by a pro is a wonder to behold! Working a drywasher takes much more finesse than a wet method. A sluice/highbanker makes me look like a pro! Tnx, all. TTC

LOL...Terry, you ain't gettin' a rise out of me on this one, buddy. Not much to argue about...haha. You gotta try harder.
Jim

 

[kazcoro]

There are so many variables...it's tough to make any "absolute" statements. A dry washer is great! But they like chunkier gold. Most of the places we hunt have pretty fine gold, and the Dw doesn't do well there. It's just a matter of matching your tools with the job you're doing....not rocket science. I can't use a DW here...it's too wet. I bought a Keene DW like 35 years ago...used it twice, and it has been sitting in my shop ever since. I figure someday, when the snow is deep, I'll haul it to Arizona to see how it works....LOL
Jim

Bring it down, I'll show you where to shovel, and I'll scrape the screen as long as you can shovel.

 

[DesertNuggets]

There is little doubt my take is always better when running wet.

 

[Fullpan]

C'mon - you guys are cherry-picken the "science" here. What about efficiencies of the "blanket" method - Heard that wind out of NorthWest at 23-28mph is
most efficient.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Come on guys, not enough arguement here! Jim. Kaz, Lp, and others make a good point. My only point was I like water, when available. There is a definite place for drywashers. ANY method by a pro is a wonder to behold! Working a drywasher takes much more finesse than a wet method. A sluice/highbanker makes me look like a pro! Tnx, all. TTC

Seriously, I think there is one area most people spend too little time thinking about, and that is the "feed rate" when feeding any of the devices we use. I just finished a rotary auto feeder for the jig I made a year ago. I had a vibratory feeder, but felt a rotary was better, so that was this winter's project. It is variable speed, but I've yet to calibrate it for the weights of various materials and feed rates. I need to feed about a 5 gallon bucket of classified material, every 15 minutes to max out my jig. A stable feed rate maximizes the gain in whatever you're using.
Jim

 

[TheNewCatfish]

Want controversy ? I'll stir some up for ya. I've seen "speed" panners in Arizona who consistantly whip the pants off other prospectors who use a sluice. These guys only have shovels, buckets and a pan.. and by the end of the day, they've got MORE gold in their bottle than anybody else. They compete with sluice operators all the time. I've stood there and watched the contests from start to finish. You might could beat'em with a dredge, but you arn't gonna beat'em with a sluice. They're that good and that fast. I know this statement is gonna infuriate lots of sluice owners. You'll claim they can't beat YOUR sluice. If you challenge' em, you'll LOSE. And they'll be LAUGHING at you while you're paying off the wager.

 

[dieselram94]

Want controversy ? I'll stir some up for ya. I've seen "speed" panners in Arizona who consistantly whip the pants off other prospectors who use a sluice. These guys only have shovels, buckets and a pan.. and by the end of the day, they've got MORE gold in their bottle than anybody else. They compete with sluice operators all the time. I've stood there and watched the contests from start to finish. You might could beat'em with a dredge, but you arn't gonna beat'em with a sluice. They're that good and that fast. I know this statement is gonna infuriate lots of sluice owners. You'll claim they can't beat YOUR sluice. If you challenge' em, you'll LOSE. And they'll be LAUGHING at you while you're paying off the wager.

If this is true the guys with pans are going to be much more tired at the end of the day...

 

[TheNewCatfish]

Lemme use a golf analogy. Would you feel comfortable challenging Tiger Woods to a game of golf as long as he only used a #1 iron for EVERY shot, (and you could use any club in your bag) ? Of course not. Only a FOOL would take that bet.

 

[Aurabbit79er]

I'm with ya Terry. I love wet mining and I love the desert. I'm currently working on a portable recirc sediment settling wash plant I can use in the desert. I want to limit the system to between 60 and 100 gal. of water. I brought home tailings from my drywasher and found gold in the clay beads the drywasher dropped. Flour gold but It's Gold.
I'm still in the design stage. I'l keep yall posted on my progress.